Chapter 292 - 119: My New Mother! Lady Moon Priestess (2)

Chapter 292: Chapter 119: My New Mother! Lady Moon Priestess (2)

This was giving Lynch quite a headache.

In addition, Lynch had also dispatched a team to head out first and scout the way to the Angelo Mountains.

This team was led by Catherine and included over a hundred men from the First Battalion, Gu Youji’s archer squad, a few Tier Three Purple Zombies, and twenty to thirty Black Corpses.

They would scout the path ahead, clearing out the various wild animals and Magical Beasts along the way.

The militia and lumberjacks following behind would then cut a road along the cleared path. They would also build a watchtower every ten li, garrisoned by two to three regular soldiers and seven or eight militiamen in rotation.

These were the benefits of having your own faction.

Lynch didn’t have to handle everything himself, nor did he need to foolishly lead his Skeleton Corps all the way to the Angelo Mountains.

He could wait until the road was fully cleared and the situation in the Angelo Mountains was ascertained before leisurely going to claim the treasure—his compatriot’s inheritance.

Besides, there were other benefits to clearing a path through the Mist Forest.

This part of the Mist Forest had long been occupied by Gnolls and was sparsely populated, leaving it largely undeveloped. It contained numerous medicinal herbs, precious timber, and even mineral veins. Once exploited, these resources could become another source of revenue for Lakefront Town.

After all, Lakefront Town’s population had now exceeded seven thousand.

The war was still raging, and refugees were countless across the land. Lakefront Town’s reputation as a sanctuary had gradually spread among them, and every day, more people arrived, drawn by its name, to seek shelter.

Therefore, finding new sources of income was essential.

Of course, he only needed to manage the overall strategy for these affairs; others would handle the specific execution.

Lynch’s main task, however, was still to process the massive pile of high-quality corpses left over from wiping out the Gnolls.

In the underground storage area of the garrison, the cold, sinister aura was even denser.

All the Gnoll corpses had been sorted and arranged in neat rows. They ranged from Tier One regular Warriors to Tier Three Centurions, totaling two hundred and thirty bodies.

Lynch rolled up his sleeves and began processing the corpses.

Although the work was tedious and dull, it filled him with a sense of accomplishment.

For the corpses of the regular Tier One Gnolls, he primarily used the Skeleton Resurrection Skill.

These corpses had sturdy bones and well-developed muscles. The Skeleton Soldiers they produced had basic stats far superior to those of ordinary Humanoid Skeletons, making them instant elites within the Skeleton Corps.

With his Spiritual Power having greatly increased, his Skeleton Resurrection Skill had also reached Level 4. Not only was his casting speed faster and the cost lower, but the quality of the resulting Skeleton Servants was also more consistent.

This was why Lynch didn’t delegate the task to the Bone Mage.

Despite reaching Tier Three thanks to the resources Lynch had invested in it, the Bone Mage’s Skeleton Resurrection Skill seemed to be lagging behind, at Tier Two level at best.

It was fine for the Bone Mage to resurrect some grunts, but it was better for Lynch to handle these high-quality corpses himself. He could treat it as an opportunity to continue grinding the skill.

Pale light flared again and again in the underground chamber. One after another, ghastly white Gnoll Skeletons swayed to their feet, then silently shuffled over to a designated area and fell into formation.

In less than a day, a reinforced company of two hundred Gnoll Skeletons began to take shape.

Their bones were thick and their finger bones sharp. Even without weapons, their claws and fangs alone posed a considerable threat.

To Lynch’s pleasant surprise, this batch of corpses produced over thirty units with Soul Fire. He wasn’t sure if it was because of the generally higher quality of the corpses or his high-level Skeleton Resurrection Skill.

Moreover, since they had been Tier One in life, they could easily regain their Tier One strength with the help of his Skeleton Enhancement Skill, which had also reached Level 4. This would significantly bolster Lynch’s increasingly thin ranks of low- to mid-level Skeleton officers.

Next came the corpses of the Tier Two, Tier Three, and even Tier Four Gnolls. Processing them would be far more troublesome than the Tier One bodies.

These creatures had been stronger in life, their muscle fibers containing more energy. Lynch’s goal was to turn them into zombies, which could retain more of their original physical strength.

However, the Corpse Resurrection Skill required a Negative Energy Array and various consumables to stimulate the corpses’ fusion with Negative Energy, which would reshape their muscles, strengthen their fascia, and allow the stiff bodies to move once more.

Like a master craftsman, Lynch patiently processed one powerful corpse after another.

There were occasional failures, mostly due to corpses that were too badly damaged, but his success rate remained above ninety percent.

As time went on, Gnoll zombies rose one by one from within the Negative Energy Array, letting out low, guttural groans.

These newly converted Gnoll zombies generally stood over two meters tall. Their bodies were masses of knotted muscle, and their canine teeth were bared. Even as Undead, they retained a fierce, bestial aura.

Lynch herded them into the corpse-nurturing coffins within the Sleeping Tomb. These coffins were fitted with simple Arrays that prevented the zombies inside from decaying while they gradually transformed into Black Corpses under the permeating Negative Energy.

’After all, if I had to personally expend vast amounts of materials and Negative Energy Crystals to turn every single zombie into a Black Corpse, not only would I work myself to death, but I also couldn’t possibly afford the cost.’

As for the corpses of the Tier Three and Tier Four Centurions, Lynch gave them his special attention.